The FCC voted to repeal net neutrality in December, but the decision has been on hold pending the appearance of the ruling in the Federal Register. The countdown timer has begun now, however, as the "Restoring Internet Freedom" decision has been published in the government publication.
The publication of the ruling kicks off a 60-day timer for the rule to become law, meaning April 23 is the drop-dead date. At this point, nothing is standing in its way, short of an act of Congress. The Senate is reportedly one vote short of being able to overturn the ruling, but a similar bill in the House has more of an uphill battle. Now that the publication has happened, there will likely be more urgency to get a deal worked out or some type of net neutrality bill passed.
While Congress continues to make noise about blocking the FCC ruling, several states have moved to keep enforcing net neutrality rules. Also, several lobbying groups and state attorneys general have filed court cases to keep net neutrality on the books. Several major tech companies have also thrown their weight behind supporting net neutrality, including Apple, Google, Amazon, and Mozilla. Even Burger King took a shot at the FCC to try to educate people on the implications of the repeal.
Net neutrality had classified ISPs under stricter Title II guidelines, but the repeal removed those rules. Although ISPs have said there will be no change in how they operate, supporters of net neutrality fear that the ISPs may start throttling content and charging more for specific website packages. Even with Title II in place, several ISPs were called on the carpet for attempting to get around the rules.